Saber (Good Smile Company)

Product Information/Specifications

Introduction

You can probably tell that Good Smile Company is part of Max Factory from the sculptor's name.  It's another division of Max Factory. 

Anyways, when I saw pics of the Saber figurine, I thought it was awesome.  The pose she makes was filled with energy.  When I saw the price, I hesitated a bit.  It took me a few weeks later to make my decision in pre-ordering it.  Saber virtually sold out the day it came out.  In fact, I think it's because of the pre-orders.  Good Smile Company re-release this figure on September 2005 & then again on December 2007 as an Ami Ami web store exclusive.   The version I got is the first release.

Some of the pictures aren't clear & good.  If I have time, I'll redo the bad ones & repost them.

The Review

Saber out of the box

Except the bottom, the box has windows on all sides.  You can just display Saber in the box if you want since it looked pretty good in there.  However, she isn't hold Excalibur.  When you take her out of the box, you need to put Excalibur in her right hand & attach her on the included display base.  Putting her on the base was a little challenging due to the way her feet are positioned.

Saber from different sides

I really love that pose!  The way her dress flies & the positions of her feet & hands really makes Saber look like she swung Excalibur hard.  And in case you were wondering, she's wearing pants.  So, no panties shown under that flying dress!  YEAH!   I was getting sick of how toy companies have to show panties on figurines. 

As much I like Saber's stance, it is actually hard for me to get a good position to make it look cool.  You really have to position it properly to get that explosive energy she's creating.  I get a different feeling every time when I try to position Saber properly on my shelf.  I couldn't believe that figure placement was a big factor for this.

Heavy metal!

The silver paint on Saber's armour has a very dull chrome to it.  It's quite a nice touch as it shows how often she uses that armour.  The panel line painting isn't too bad.  Solid black through out the armour.  What surprised me about the panel lining was the places that had thick black lines had more paint bleeding than the thin lines for some reason.

The yellow spots on the bottom of Saber's dress was painted nicely.  No signs of spots being uneven in size or shape.  The dress has a shade of light blue to give it a bit of shadow under the blue clothing.  Really nice balance.  Now to evaluate Excalibur.

Excalibur measures at 16cm from the bottom of the handle to the blade's tip.  The guard is well crafted & painted.  The blade is well molded as well.  You can see the groove of the sword.  On one side of the blade, there is an engraving.  I'm not sure what it is, but it's engraved well.

If looks could kill....

Saber's face is a bit different from what you see from TYPE-MOON's style.  It's got that manga feel, but it looks a bit more realistic.  Her facial expression matches her body expression perfectly.  The paint is not too bad.  You can see from the pic that her left eyebrow isn't shaped properly.  Saber's eyes look simple, but somewhat the green gives off a lot of energy to her face expression. 

Overall Conclusion

Saber is an awesome figurine to have in your collection.  The workmanship is of high quality.  That stance is really full of energy & aggression.  Problem with the figurine is how to position it.  You really have to place it right to get Saber's power.  I've tried a lot of positions & places, but I can't get it to display it's full potential properly.  She has never returned to her box.

On a scale of ten, it receives a 9.5.  What gave it such a high score was the stance, the quality of the paint & detail work.  What made it lost its point was the positioning problem.  If I know how to get it right, I will give it a perfect score.

The retail price for Saber is quite high for a 1/8 figurine.  You can get a 1/6 figure at that price almost. at the time it was first released.  However, it seems people didn't mind & I think the quality of this product was worth it.  I'm not sure if the reissue versions have some difference with the first version.

If you think there is a difference between the three versions & want to get the original one, you have to search extremely hard for it.  Even for the re-issues, the price for this is high as the demand for it is still growing.

Photos were taken using Sony DSC-F828 digital still camera.

Last updated on February 19, 2008